Pioneers in North Carolina Nursing



Pioneers in North Carolina Nursing (1)

I am so pleased and honored to be here tonight to talk about NC nursing pioneers. We, the nurses of North Carolina have a long, proud and dynamic history. We stand on the shoulders of nurses who struggled against sexism, racism and people with limited visions to create a profession, build organizations and work to make the world a better place. Tonight I will introduce you to 5 of these nurse pioneers.

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Pioneer: “One who takes part in the beginnings or initiates a program, one who ventures into unknown or unclaimed territory, one who opens new areas of thought, research or development …”

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In all times and in all cultures there exists a human inclination to care for others who are sick or injured. From the earliest days of North Carolina history, through the present times, nurses have exemplified this impulse to care. Knowing stories of North Carolina nursing pioneers can inspire and encourage us to try new ideas and initiate new ventures as we continue to develop our profession in deeper service to humankind (composite of nurses slide 4)

JANE WILKES

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Our story begins with the Civil War and nurse Jane Wilkes who exemplifies the beginnings of professional nursing in NC. At the outbreak of the Civil War, in the spring of 1861, there were no trained nurses, nursing schools or general hospitals in the state of North Carolina. A common misconception was that the Civil War would be quickly and easily won. Because of this error in judgment, no provisions were made for the care of the wounded and sick soldiers.

Early in the Civil War deadly epidemics of measles, malaria and assorted fevers swept through the soldier’s camps killing and incapacitating thousands of men.

Under these circumstances, a few North Carolina women donated their services, time, money and supplies to aid these ailing soldiers. They initiated a new institution - the “Wayside Hospital”. Large buildings, close to train depots, such as barns and churches were converted into makeshift hospitals and volunteer women performed important nursing duties such as laundering clothing and linens, preparing meals, feeding and bathing patients, and keeping the environment clean. Many of these women also learned new skills in administration, finance, public relations and patient advocacy. One of the women who volunteered in all of these capacities at the Charlotte Wayside Hospital was Jane Wilkes (“Great tribute”, 1913). (Kinston Wayside -20)

MOVIE

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Often called the Florence Nightingale of North Carolina, the next nursing pioneer I will introduce you to is Mary Lewis Wyche. Without her tireless work on behalf of the nursing profession, we would not have been the first state to register nursing in the United States.

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Mary Lewis Wyche was born on February 26, 1858 near Henderson in Vance County. (VaNCE County 33)

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As a young woman, she wanted to become a nurse but was thwarted by both family obligations and the absence of any schools of nursing in North Carolina. Her calling to become a nurse was so great that when she was able, she moved to Philadelphia to study nursing and graduated from Philadelphia General Hospital Training School in 1894. Upon graduation, she returned to the Tarheel State and revolutionized the nursing profession. We honor her tonight for 4 of her many accomplishments. (Photo of Ml Wyche)

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Wyche’s first major accomplishment was the establishment of the first school of nursing in North Carolina. After graduating from nursing school, Wyche’s first job was as matron (Chief Nursing Officer) of the newly established Rex Hospital in Raleigh. Understanding the importance of an educated nursing workforce to the health of the states’ citizens, Wyche undertook the major task of creating the first school of nursing in North Carolina - Rex Hospital Training School for Nurses. Wyche recalled the early days of the school this way: “The hospital of only 23 beds was rather small to have a school of nursing, but there were patients who needed care and young women who wanted to be taught the art of nursing” (Wyche, 1938).

Five students were in the first class. They reported to the hospital at 8 in the morning and remained until 6 pm every night. (White nursing students 35)

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Classes were held four times a week and included anatomy, surgery, material medica, obstetrics and practical nursing. The classroom was located close enough to the patient care area that students could hear the call bells and leave class to take care of patients when needed. (nursing students in lab)

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After 2 and ½ years of training, the first class graduated in 1897, becoming the first North Carolina trained graduate nurses (Wyche, 1938)

(first 2 graduates -37)

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A second momentous achievement of Wyche’s was the creation of the North Carolina State Nurses Association and its creation of the NC Board of Nursing. Wyche frequently attended professional gatherings in other states. After meeting with other nurses at the International Council of Nurses in Buffalo, New York in the spring of 1901, she returned to Raleigh determined to form a state wide nursing organization dedicated to using nursing registration and legislative advocacy to improve the profession and patient care. However, her new task was not easily accomplished. Wyche sent postcards to every nurse in Raleigh requesting their presence at a founding meeting of the Raleigh Nurses Association. Unfortunately not a single nurse showed up. However, Wyche was not a quitter. In two weeks she sent a second postcard inviting the same nurses to an important meeting of the newly formed Raleigh Nurses Association. This piqued the nurses’ curiosity, and every single graduate nurse in Raleigh attended the meeting. Soon the Raleigh Nurses Association started work on forming the North Carolina State Nurses Association (North Carolina nurses, 2003). In 1902, the Raleigh group invited every nurse they were aware of in North Carolina to a meeting in Raleigh during the week of the State Fair. The railroads offered discount fares to Raleigh during Fair Week and the Fair itself would be a draw. Fourteen nurses from across the state met with the members of the Raleigh Nurses Association on October 28, 1902 and launched the North Carolina State Nurses Association (North Carolina nurses, 2003). (LOGOs of NCNA and NCBON 38)

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At the time of the founding of the NCSNA, it was extremely rare in North Carolina for people of different races to meet together for a common purpose. Public establishments such as convention halls and restaurants were legally segregated by race. A group of African American nurses, led by Carrie Early Broadfoot organized the NC Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in 1920 and ran this parallel professional organization until the two associations united to represent all nurses in North Carolina in 1949 (Pollitt & Reese, 1997) . The NCNA is a vital organization for all nurses in North Carolina today. It is the primary professional voice for nursing in North Carolina. I think Wyche would be proud to see what her organization has become. (Colored graduate nurse association members)

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Wyche’s work was not complete after founding the first nursing school and the first professional nursing organization in North Carolina. Her third major success occurred on March 3rd, 1903 when the NCNA, pushed a bill through the state legislature that was signed by Governor Charles Aycock, making North Carolina the first state in the nation mandating registration for nurses (Wyche, 1938). For the first time, nurses had some control over the quality and education of people practicing nursing. Registration provides safeguards for the public and the profession. Josephine Burton of Craven County became the first registered nurse in North Carolina, and therefore the first registered nurse in the United States on June 4, 1903 (Wyche, 1938) (Nurse Practice Act 40)

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Wyche’s final major accomplishment for nurses in North Carolina was compiling and writing the only book on the history of nursing in North Carolina.

(History of nursing in NC 41)

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By starting the first school of nursing in NC, creating the first professional nursing organizations in North Carolina, advocating and lobbying for the first Nurse Practice act in the United States and preserving and recording the accomplishments of early nurses and the profession in its infancy, Wyche has given all of us a gift of inspiration and motivation to continue the work she started. (Old M L Wyche 42)

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Lydia Holman -Community health pioneer

Before there were health departments, before any state or federal monies were allocated for public health efforts, Lydia Holman took it upon herself to improve the health of hundreds of families in rural Appalachian North Carolina.

Lydia Holman, a recent graduate of the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing, came to the mountains of North Carolina in 1900 to provide private duty care for a wealthy woman, who was very ill with typhus at her vacation home in Mitchell County (Hawkins, 1998). Holman looked around and saw many people suffering from illnesses that could be prevented and she realized she had to do something about these conditions. For 58 years, traveling on horseback over tortuous mountain roads, up stream beds and over the high mountains, she delivered hundreds of babies, performed minor surgery and dentistry, immunized folks against typhoid and fought epidemics of tuberculosis, pellagra, smallpox and measles.

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Not long after the emergence of professional hospital nursing, nurses including Lillian Wald and Lavinia Dock took their new skills into the community to serve those in need. They created the field of Public health Nursing. Early public health nurses organized visiting nurse associations which provided home health services, they initiated school nursing programs, set up milk stations for mothers and infants to provide nutrition and nutrition education, initiated immunizations campaigns and they worked to change the social conditions which contributed to ill health. Most of the nursing settlements were located in the slum and immigrant neighborhoods of large Northern and Midwestern cities. (settlement nurse -44)

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However, a noteworthy exception to this pattern was the work of Lydia Holman and the Holman Association for the Promotion of Rural Nursing, Hygiene and Social Service in Mitchell County, NC (The spread, 1912).

(nurses on horseback -45)

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In December, 1900, when Holman arrived in the town of Ledger in Mitchell County, there were no paved roads, no electricity, no running water, no hospital, and no trained nurses. As her patient’s health improved, Holman was increasingly called on by local residents to attend to their illnesses (Wyche, 1938).

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Wyche writes about Holman this way:

“Miss Holman made a study of the living conditions of the people and found them lacking in many respects. She became attached to the mountain folk and felt that she could be of use to them in combating disease and in teaching hygiene and dietetics … For many years she not only did her housework and cooking, but cared for her horse as well. At any hour of the day or night she answered the calls of the people, riding alone for miles to attend a person in need. Her arduous duties have been attended by danger and discomforts…” (p.59) (Public health nurse on bridge-47)

Holman was a professional nurse and active in many nursing organizations of her day. She was elected to the first Board of Directors of the National Association of Public health Nurses in 1912. In 1907 she gave an address to the Nurses’ Associated Alumnae of the United States (the precursor to the American Nurses Association) describing her work but also discussed her exhaustion and the overwhelming need for personnel and supplies in order to continue her efforts. Without the backing of a government agency or a church or civic organization, Holman spent a good deal of time appealing for money, supplies and staff to help with her work. Articles about Holman and her work were published in numerous magazines including the American Journal of Nursing, Public Health Nurse, Outlook and the World’s Work. Dr. William Welsh, a pathologist at John’s Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland took an interest in Holman’s work (Lydia Holman dies, 1960). Together they formed the Holman Association for the Promotion of Rural Nursing, Hygiene and Social Service in Mitchell County, NC. Chapters of the Holman Association formed in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia. Chapter members raised money and sent funds and supplies to her. They also recruited volunteers, including medical and nursing students from John’s Hopkins University, to spend varying amounts of time in Ledger helping with the work (Pollitt, 1991). (Holman with horse -48)

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Deposits of kaolin, mica and other minerals were discovered in Mitchell County in the early 1900s. Companies were formed to extract and export these minerals. The Holston Corporation built a railroad to transport the minerals to markets. Building and maintaining a railroad in the treacherous, mountainous terrain caused many casualties. Holman convinced the officials of the Holston Corporation of the benefits of having a local hospital to treat injured workers and their families. The Holston Corporation donated 15 acres of land and the Holman Association chapters supplied the money to build and equip the twenty four bed hospital. A delivery suite and operating room were incorporated into the building (Pollitt, 1991). The Holman Committee in Boston reported the hospital recorded 1,800 visits during its first year of service (Hawkins, 1998).

(Hospital -49)

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Holman continued her work in public health. The 1914-1915 report of the Holman Association describes some of her activities as teaching classes in hygiene and nutrition, working to control epidemics of chicken pox, scarlet fever, measles and camp itch, holding an immunization campaign against typhoid and distributing donated toothbrushes and toothpaste while teaching the importance of dental health in the community. In addition to her nursing work, Holman established a small lending library, kept a demonstration garden so local people could learn to grow a wider variety of fruits and vegetables to supplement their diets and distributed hundreds of donated toys at Christmas time to local children (Lydia Holman, 1960).

As the years went by progress came to western North Carolina, including Mitchell County. A few physicians moved into the area and were upset by the breadth of Holman’s work and had her arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Holman later wrote about the experience this way: “It was nicely done. He [the arresting officer] read his warrant and said “Now, Miss Holman, don’t let it worry you … It will cost you every cent of fifty dollars, and I would not do it. There ain;’t no reason why you should pay anything”. I took the man’s advice and spent the whole day waiting for the people in the courthouse to decide what was to become of me. The Solicitor read a very nice little piece of scripture and dismissed the case … After court, twenty mountain men or more took credit for having the case thrown out. Then they came to assure me, all the neighbors and people I had never heard of, that I should go on with the work … they would be quite willing to hire teams and come to my defense.” (An informal report, 1915). (Courthouse -50)

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She did continue with her work. By the 1920s, state and federal monies were starting to become available for public health work and Holman was put in charge of administering these funds in Mitchell County. An article in the May 11, 1924 New York Times reflected on Holman’s activities:

` “One of the most wonderful and successful experiments in alleviating distress and averting disaster in maternity cases … is conducted by Miss Lydia Holman, a registered nurse, down in the mountains of North Carolina … Miss Holman did not wait for the passing of congressional acts. A quarter of a century ago, with nothing but her nursing kit, she, a little woman, a stranger to the community, unaided and without guidance or applause, set herself to the task of relieving those needs. She knew but one thing – she was in the midst of human beings who were suffering from lack of something her trained hands and eager spirit could provide … while she ministers to every man, woman and child for miles around, the lives she has saved by her pre natal and post natal care represent one of the most encouraging signposts of what intelligence and care can do.” (Rosner, 1924) (Nurses with baby -51)

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In addition to intelligence and care, Holman also demonstrated ingenuity. By 1930 there were sufficient paved roads in the county to make traveling by car faster and easier than horseback. Holman had no extra funds with which to purchase a car so she wrote President Herbert Hoover saying if she had a nice car she would be able to drive voters to the polls to vote for him in the upcoming presidential election. Soon, a brand new 1931 model A Ford was delivered to Holman from the White House (A model “A” angel, 1990). In 1936, at age 68, Holman was elected the Mitchell County Board of Health, becoming the first female elected official in the county. Holman spent her retirement years in her beloved Mitchell County, dying in 1962 in the VA hospital in nearby Asheville. She is buried in a plain grave in the Spruce Pine cemetery close to where she spent her life in unselfish service to her fellow citizens (Lydia Holman dies, 1960). (Lydia with model A- 52)

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Mary Mills – North Carolina’s Nursing Ambassador to the World

Perhaps the most amazing story of all North Carolina nursing pioneers is that of Mary Lee Mills. (portrait -53)

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Born in 1912 and raised near Waltha in Pender County, one of eleven children and the granddaughter of slaves, Mills brought health and hope to people around the world. (Pender County – 54)

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For nearly three decades Captain Mills labored in poor countries including Liberia, Lebanon, Chad, Viet Nam and Cambodia, organizing maternity wards, child health clinics and nursing schools (Steelman, 1998).

(heal the world 55)

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She received her early learning in a one teacher schoolhouse in the days when segregation ruled and educational opportunities for rural, African American children in North Carolina were deplorable. Mills was an exceptional student and completed as much schooling as was available to her in Pender County.

(One room schoolhouse – 56)

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During the height of the Great Depression, Mills made her way to Durham, NC where,

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in 1934, she graduated from the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing and became a registered nurse. (depression 57)

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Mills worked as a public health nurse and then in advanced practice as a Nurse-Midwife while she completed her education. She earned a certificate in public health nursing from the Medical College of Virginia, a certificate in midwifery from the Lobenstein School of Midwifery in New York City, a Bachelors and Masters degree from New York University as well as a graduate certificate in health care administration from George Washington University in Washington DC.

From 1939-1943 Mills practiced public health nursing and midwifery in rural counties in eastern North Carolina

MOVIE

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In 1946, Mills began her distinguished career in global nursing when she joined the Office of International Health with the United States Public Health Service Mission in Monrovia, Liberia. (USPHS Logo – 59)

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While in Liberia, she created some of the countries first health education campaigns, she initiated a national public health library and she advocated legislation to strengthen nursing as a profession (Mary Mills return, 1951).

(Map of Liberia – 60)

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Her work in Liberia was described in a piece in the American Journal of Nursing in 1956 this way (Untitled article, 1956):

“From 1946 until 1952 she served as chief nursing officer for the USPHS in Liberia, West Africa. In addition to trips into the interior with her colleagues to set up immunization stations and health centers, she helped organize and establish the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Children’s Ward at the government hospital in Monrovia and she was instrumental in organizing the Tubman National School of Nursing (Which has evolved into the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts). Liberia invested her [honored her with an award] as Knight Official of the Liberian Humane Order of African Redemption.” (African Nurses and School of Nursing = 61 & 62)

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After a short period back in the United States for study, rest and family visits, Mills, who had been promoted from the rank of major to that of Lt. Colonel, then Colonel and finally Captain, received a USPHS assignment to Beirut Lebanon in January, 1952. (Map of Lebanon 63)

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On her way from North Carolina to Beirut, she represented the United States at conferences of the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization. (ICN Logo 64)

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In Lebanon, Mills worked hard to establish the country’s first school of nursing and after its successful beginnings was awarded the Order of the Cedars, one of that country’s highest awards for service. A nursing dormitory at the school was named in her honor (Carolina nurse, 1957). (nursing Education building in Lebanon -65)

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In her twenty year career with the Office of International Health, Mills was an ambassador of good will representing North Carolina and the United States around the globe. She provided health education, nursing care and midwifery services to countless suffering individuals and families in Liberia, Lebanon, South Vietnam, Cambodia and Chad. In those countries, Mills worked on small pox and malaria eradication campaigns, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition health education programs, and the establishment of maternal-child health clinics (North Carolina nurses, 2003). (Map of Asia 66)

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She is fluent in five languages: Arabic, French, Cambodian, African dialects and English. Additionally, in each country where she worked she was instrumental in initiating or expanding schools of nursing. Leaders of every country in which she worked bestowed honors and awards on her for her untiring efforts to improve the quality of life and health for all citizens of the world (Carnegie, 1998). (Portrait 67)

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In 1966, Captain Mills returned permanently to the United States taking a job with the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare as a nursing consultant in the Migrant Health Program. She provided program, policy and political advice about migrant health care and other public health issues to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare who in turn sits in the Cabinet advising the President. In this capacity, she went to Finland, Germany and Denmark to study their national health care systems and bring back ideas that might be put to use in the United States. She represented the United States at nursing, midwifery and public health international conferences in Mexico, Canada, Germany, Australia, Italy and Sweden. Mills has been an active member and officer of many professional associations including the American College of Nurse Midwives, National League for Nursing, the Frontier Nursing Service, the American Public Health Association, American Nurse Association, North Carolina Nurse Association (District 11), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Steelman, 1998).

During her 10 years at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Mills received numerous awards in the United States honoring her contributions to all people at home and around the world. These include a US Public Health Service Distinguished Service Award, Princeton University’s Rockefeller Public Service Award, the American Nurse’s Association Mary Mahoney Award, North Carolina’s highest honor, the Long Leaf Pine Award, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Tuskegee University and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Seton Hall University (Carnegie, 1998).

Mills retired from government service in 1976 to her beloved Pender County. She remains an active volunteer in several local organizations that help others and advance nursing. Her story is virtually unknown, yet her contributions to our profession are almost beyond words. May her life inspire all of us to reach out to people everywhere and provide care and education to all. (picture 68)

69 (portrait)

Eugene Tranbarger

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Building on the Nightingale model of nursing education, and reflecting the social mores of the day, early schools of nursing and professional nursing organizations in North Carolina not only discriminated against women of color, but also excluded men. In fact, the American Nurses Association did not allow men to be members for the first 40 years of its existence (O’Lynn & Tranbarger, 2007). Many men struggled for years to create a space for male nurses in educational institutions, workplace settings and professional organizations. We are proud that we can claim one of the men who led this effort to integrate men into the nursing profession as a North Carolina nursing pioneer, Dr. Russell Eugene “Gene” Tranbarger. (Men in Nursing – 70)

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Tranbarger started breaking barriers for men early in his career as a student nurse. In 1958, he was elected president of the Student Nurse Association of Illinois, the first man to hold that office.

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After graduating from the Alexian Brothers School of Nursing in Chicago in 1959, Dr. Tranbarger, to the dismay of many of the nursing staff, became the first male nurse at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, where, after receiving his BSN from DePaul Univeristy, he taught operating room nursing to students who were then sent to serve in the Vietnam War (LaRocco, 2008).

(Alexian brotherhood hospital – 72)

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Tranbareger came to North Carolina to earn his Master of Science in Nursing in Nursing Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. After graduating from this program in 1970, he became the Associate Director of Nursing at NC Memorial Hospital and was appointed as an adjunct faculty member at the UNC School of Nursing, breaking another gender barrier by becoming the first man on the UNC school of nursing faculty. (UNC 73)

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After earning his doctorate from NC State University in 1991, Tranbarger joined the faculty at East Carolina University (LeMaire, 2003). (ECU 74)

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Throughout his career, Tranbarger has been a leader in state and national nursing associations, holding a variety of offices in organizations including the American Nurses Association, the North Carolina Foundation for Nursing, the North Carolina Federation of Nursing Organizations and American Academy of Nursing, in which he is a fellow. He is the only man to serve as President of the North Carolina Nurses Association and the first man to Chair the North Carolina Board of Nursing. While Tranbarger’s leadership and contributions to nursing, especially nursing administration, have been recognized with numerous state and national awards, we are specifically honoring him tonight for being a pioneer for men in nursing (LaRocco, 2008).

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In 1990, Tranbarger presented a paper at the American Assembly of Men in Nursing conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to that meeting Tranbarger had sought to reduce the emphasis on gender in the nursing profession, but after attending the meeting he realized specific support and assistance was required to recruit and retain men in nursing. Tranbarger became an active member of the American Assembly of Men in Nursing. In addition to serving as a role model for many young men in or considering nursing as a career, Tranbarger has been a voice for men in nursing in the media, he has written extensively on topics related to men in nursing and he has worked on multimedia rescruitment campaigns to increase the number of men in our profession (Tranbarger, 2003). Tranbarger has played crucial roles in the AAMN, holding every major office including serving as its President for two terms. In addition, Tranbarger edited the AAMN journal Interaction for six years. (men in Nursing logo 76)

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In 2007, he coauthored Men in Nursing, the first book to fosuc on the history, challenges and opportunities for men in nursing. (book 77)

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Just this summer, the ANA honored him as the first recipient of the Luther Christman Award which recognizes the contributions that an individual man has made to the profession of nursing (LaRocco, 2008, Lemaire, 2003). We are proud to honor Eugene Tranbarger as a North Carolina nursing pioneer.

(news clipping – 78)

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These five nurses: Jane Wilkes, Mary Wyche, Lydia Holman, Mary Mills and Gene Tranbarger represent the highest ideals in nursing. They each saw human needs, some in their own backyards, some on a global scale, and used all their skills and talents to work to improve the conditions they saw. Each responded in her or his own way, given the times and resources available to them to better the world around them. These nurses have inspired me to use all I have and all I know as a nurse to help others and to enhance our profession. I hope their stories can be an inspiration for all of you.

“ … The truth is this: the march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient, the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.” Robert E. Lee

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